The Words of the Perry Family
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The Words of the Perry Family |
Mr.
Hideo Oyamada greets the participants at the Opening Plenary Session
"Reverend Moon's candid intention is that many scholars study Unification Thought directly, and apply this thought to the solution of issues in the various (academic) fields. However, since this will take some time to be realized in full, until then, those scholars who are Unification Church members and are majoring in specific academic fields have been instructed to begin applying Unification Thought to those fields. This is how this symposium came to be held." Dr. Sang Hun Lee
For the first time in the history of the Unification Movement, Unificationist scholars were the sole presenters of papers in a Symposium while lay scholars were commentators. This unprecedented reversal of positions took place at the Seventh International Symposium on Unification Thought, held in Tokyo, Japan, on July 23-26, 1990. Under the theme "The Establishment of a New Culture and Unification Thought," the Seventh Symposium gathered scholars from Asia, the Americas, and Europe -- including China, Eastern Europe, and the Soviet Union.
Co-hosted by Dr. Sang Hun Lee, President of UTI of Korea, and Mr. Hideo Oyamada, President of UTI of Japan, the Seventh Symposium was especially designed to present Unification Thought to the leadership of ICUS. Its primary purpose was to prepare for the 18th ICUS, to be held in Korea in 1991. In attendance were six Chairmen and former Chairmen of ICUS Committees. Other participants included scholars that have attended previous Symposia as well as Unificationist scholars.
Upon arriving in Tokyo, participants gathered for a Welcome Banquet, which was graced by the presence of Rev. Moon's son Mr. Hyo Jin Moon, who was in Japan on a speaking tour. In his greetings to participants, Mr. Hyo Jin Moon encouraged scholars to learn from Rev. Moon's example of total dedication to everything he does. He also requested the more experienced professors to help in the development of the "young buds," namely, the Unificationist scholars.
Dr. David S. C. Kim, President of the Unification Theological Seminary, also spoke at the Welcome Banquet representing Western Unificationists. Pres. Kim urged senior scholars to listen with an open heart and to keep in mind one of the tenets of the Confucianists of the Lee Dynasty of Korea, namely, that a maturing scholar must learn from the rice plant: "the more it matures, the lower it bows its head." After the banquet, a former ICUS committee chairman said he had been deeply touched by Pres. Kim's words, especially his anecdote of the Confucian scholars.
The first full day of activities began with an Opening Plenary Session. Participants were greeted by Mr. Hideo Oyamada, by Dr. Hang-Nyong Lee, President of PWPA of Korea, and by Dr. Nobuyuki Fukuda, President of PWPA of Japan. The highlight of the Opening Plenary Session was Dr. Sang Hun Lee's Keynote Speech, entitled "The Opening of the New Age of Peace and Unification Thought." Dr. Lee stated that in view of recent providential events (such as the meeting between Rev. Sun Myung Moon and Pres. Mikhail Gorbachev), the New Age has begun, which he characterized as the "Age of Peace," the "Age of True Renaissance," and the "Age of Unification Culture."
Having completed the preliminary events for the Symposium, presenters, discussants, and participants settled in for three days of exciting and intense study.
The main body of the Symposium was made up of twelve sessions, each consisting of a presentation of a previously distributed paper, a written response by a discussant, and a period of "discussions" guided by a session chairman. The twelve Unificationist scholars had been chosen from among twenty- two special lecturers who had submitted papers for possible inclusion at the Symposium. These select papers will soon be published in a book; I hope our members and friends will purchase that book, because reading the papers is time well-spent.
The following is a list of the presenters and the title of their respective papers, following the order of presentation. Dr. Lee offered insightful comments on each of the papers and his thoughts (excerpted from Dr. Lee's "General Commentary on the Papers") are also included after the paper's title:
Unification
Thought scholars gather for a group photo with Dr. Sang Hun Lee
When we look back on the past forty years of world history, democracy, which is based on individualism, and dictatorship, which is based on totalitarianism, have divided the world into two and ruled it. If I were to explain by borrowing from the author's theory, I could say that the former operated on the principle of giving priority to equality, while the latter is the principle of giving priority to order. The former is an equality superiority principle state, while the latter is an order-superiority principle state. In this way, in order to solve the ills of both sides, I think the author has proven that the Unification theory has the structure to harmonize Locke's theory of equality and Filmer's order of superiority, thus solving the ills of both democracy and communism.
This thesis deals with economic ethics and business ethics, and I think it is a valuable paper that shows a moral and ethical model for the fundamental solution of the many chronic ills of capitalism, including the problem of the gap between the rich and the poor, as well as labor-management problems.... Through this paper it becomes clear that past economies have been either individual-centered economies (capitalist economies) or whole-centered economies (communist economies) and that both have failed in the respect of establishing economic ethics. He concluded that family ethics is the foundation for all ethics. When we consider that today's economy has lost its proper direction due to the absence of ethics, think this is an excellent paper.
The Unification theory of history is a systematization of the contents of the Principles of Restoration within the Unification Principle. This has been explained only in lectures on Unification Thought. This paper is the first time that the Unification theory of history has ever been presented as a powerful academic solution to the points in dispute concerning the direction of history among historians.
I feel that the Unification theory of history is a comprehensive view of history covering almost all of the issues dealt with by conventional theories of history, namely, the origin, goal, law- governed nature, diversity, factuality, determinism and indeterminism, God's intervention in the development of history (providence), and so on. The author has also testified that the Unification theory of history gives answers to these problems.
This paper examines and criticizes conventional Western ethical and moral views, pointing out their problems and defects.... Traditional Christian ethical and moral ideas of the West have be- come obsolete due to liberalism, pluralism, relativism, consequentialism, teleology, etc. Therefore... I feel that Dr. Walsh's paper had been a beacon of hope cast into the academic world, on which we could no longer place hope.
Through this paper, not only the characteristic features of Hegel's view of the family and the Unification Thought view of the family have been made clear, but also the superiority of the Unification Thought view of the family is highlighted. I was very much inspired by reading this paper, because I was able to gain conviction that even such a grand system as Hegel's can be fully critiqued and overcome by Unification Thought. I am deeply thankful to Dr. Seidel.
... The author mentions that the methodology of Unification Thought as shown is not only superior to Hegel's and Marx's dialectic, but also covers and includes the nuclear points of all cultures, thought systems and religions; thus the author concludes that Unification Thought is not an ideology, namely a dogma. Generally this is an excellent paper. Especially he has exhaustively criticized Hegel, the representative figure of idealism, and Marx's dialectic, the representative concept of materialism.
In the conventional world of philosophy this is a splendid achievement of logic, supporting the Rev. Moon's "victory in Moscow" in terms of methodology.
... There is no better candidate than Unification Thought to serve as the alternative to the basic Aristotelian concept of substance. The author has tried to testify to the utility of Unification Thought by applying it to the most basic concepts in philosophy.
The writer declares that self-denial is a universal religious principle and that based on this principle an effective method for the unity of religions can be established... He concludes that when one attains the stage where one's spirit mind and physical mind constantly engage in give and take action, each in the position of subject and object, one will perfect self-denial, and here the purpose of the higher mind will appear. If this method of self-denial is applied to the principles of all religions, self-denial could be perfected effectively, while each religion preserves its own teachings. Thus, the unity of religions could be accomplished.
It seems to me that this paper is the appeal of a righteous person, written with a sense of excruciating pain. The American people and their leadership should listen to the author's appeal, and pay attention to the Unification theory of education to resolve the American sex education problem.
The author made it clear that the superiority of Unification epistemology lies not only in its harmonization of previously antagonistic relations, but also in its possession of a secure scientific rigidity. The paper writer has fully digested Unification Epistemology, which is the most difficult to understand of all the theories of Unification Thought, and applied it in developmental psychology, her specialty, to solve the issues of traditional epistemologies.
This treatise discusses the possibility of a universal language, which is related to the unification of cultures. Language is the means of transmitting thought, and what thinking is to language is also what thought is to language. It is in the relationship of subject and object as in Unification Thought. Thus, when the unification of thoughts is accomplished, the unification of languages will come about automatically as an accompanying phenomenon.
Dr.
Sang Hun Lee delivers his commentary on how well the presenters
applied Unification Thought to their specific area of expertise
At the Closing Ceremony, various speakers offered words of congratulations and encouragement. Rev. Young Whi Kim, President of the Unification Church of Korea, reminded participants of the importance of actual religious practice in addition to intellectual inquiry into truth. Dr. Tyler Hendricks commented on the central role of Dr. Sang Hun Lee has been playing as "the philosopher" of the Unification Movement. Dr. Frederick Sontag characterized the Symposium as "the search for basic assumptions." Dr. Boris Gubman from the Soviet Union mentioned that the search for universal harmony among humankind has deep resonance in the Russian soul. Dr. Ling Wang from China stressed how important Unification Thought will be for the development of the world, especially Asia. Dr. Tamas Kozma from Hungary expressed hopes that Unification Thought will contribute to peace among ethnic groups in Central Europe.
As is customary, the Closing Ceremony was followed by a Farewell Banquet, which represented a heart-warming moment of enjoyment and relaxation under an expertly executed entertainment program by members of the Unification Movement of Japan. Native songs, with credible phonetic accents, were sung in Hungarian, Russian, Chinese, Korean, English, and of course, Japanese. "Amazing Grace" was the song chosen for English. The banquet concluded with a warm feeling of harmony and fraternization among all participants, each one feeling they wished they could stay longer.
On the following day, Dr. Lee called for two Post-Symposium sessions -- one to announce his choice of the three best papers, and the other to discuss proofs for the existence of God for the benefit of professors from the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. The latter session had been especially requested by Rev. Moon.
In the second session, Dr. Lee reviewed the traditional proofs for the existence of God: the Ontological Argument, the Cosmological Argument, the Teleological Argument, and the Moral Argument. Dr. Lee showed that each proof has weak points and hence is not very effective. He then discussed the Unification Thought preferred proof, which is based on the Hypothetical Method of science. This is a method of proving that certain hypothesis (e.g., the hypothesis that God exists) is true by verifying it through scientific observation or experimentation. Through Dr. Lee's logical development of the Unification Thought proof, it became clear that belief in God can be grounded on scientific evidence.
According to Dr. Sang Hun Lee, the Symposium was a great success and signals the beginning of much broader activities relating to Unification Thought. As usual, the hospitality of our brothers and sisters in Japan was superb, which made our stay there most pleasurable and rewarding.